1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bleacher seating, and in particular, the present invention relates to a bleacher chair for use with a bleacher structure having tiers of bleacher seating. In addition, the present invention relates to vending such bleacher chairs at an event with bleacher seating.
2. Description of Related Art
Commercial auditoriums and sports arenas have come to provide comfortable seating for expensive concerts and professional-level sporting events. Local and regional events, such as high school and college football games and other sporting events, however, have not been able to provide such luxury. Fans at such events are rarely provided with more than bleacher seating, which has typically consisted of little more than rough wooden planks on a metal framework or concrete stands. In recent years, standard aluminum bleachers have replaced such older designs, but have not added appreciably to the comfort provided.
Bleacher seating is almost universally uncomfortable, and often wet and cold, particularly when the bleachers are outdoors. Aluminum seating has, if anything, aggravated the perceived coldness of the seating. Worse, bleacher seating provides no back support whatsoever. For those with even minor back problems, watching an event from bleacher seating can prove to be an uncomfortable, if not painful, experience.
Many stadiums and sports arenas rent pillows and padded seating to patrons, but even where such cushioning is available, the support problems are simply not addressed. For many years, the prior art has attempted to overcome these shortcomings, but with limited success.
Aluminum bent tube lawn chairs with plastic strip webbing are manufactured in large quantities for sale in the U.S. Numerous manufacturing plants exist to manufacture these ubiquitous chairs for perpetual sale in the U.S. and other countries. The manufacturing process is so well defined and so well executed that the cost of making these types of chairs is estimated to be about one or two dollars. Utilization of this manufacturing capacity is a key to rapid deployment of the novel improvement disclosed herein.
Numerous patents have been issued which evidence many attempts to commercialize and mass market a bleacher chair without any significant market penetration or mass sale of the patented items. For example, some of these patented structures which failed to create a substantial market are as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 226,156, issued to Blackler on Apr. 6, 1880. This reference is entitled Window-hair, and shows a seat or chair provided with arms and a back that can be used by persons when washing windows.
U.S. Pat. No. 243,617, issued to Porter on Jun. 28, 1881. This reference is entitled Chair for Attaching to Door Steps, and shows a chair or seat adapted to be secured to the curb or side wall of a flight of door-steps, which can be folded compactly for storage or shipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 720,034, issued to Kerr on Feb. 10, 1903. This reference is entitled Swing Attachment and shows a chair attachment for swings adapted to rope swings with wooden seats and capable of affording a back and footrest and being readily adjusted to accommodate to the person using the swing.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,528,433, issued to Hines on Oct. 31, 1950. This reference is entitled Portable Folding Seat, and is assigned of record to the W. B. Hines Research and Development Corporation of Ohio. The reference shows a portable, folding seat which may be easily carried by the user and which may be readily clamped in place upon the ordinary seat in stadiums and similar places providing a dry comfortable cushion seat having a back rest thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,694,441, issued to Degenfelder on Nov. 16, 1954. This reference is entitled Portable Seat, and shows a portable seat that is equipped with a back collapsible below the seat and collapsible means for securely attaching the seat to a bench.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,167,790, issued to Hickey on Feb. 2, 1965. This reference is entitled Invalid Bed Seat, and shows a seat portion for a chair that can be positioned under a bed-ridden patient and used to move the patient. The patient can be raised to a sitting position and a removable backrest attached to the seat portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,405,972, issued to Morris on Oct. 15, 1968. This reference is entitled Stair Chair, and shows a chair having left and right hand leg braces of different lengths so that the chair can be placed on a flight of stairs to permit the user to sit facing a banister with the user's feet on either of two steps upon which the chair is mounted. The chair is collapsible, and can be locked in its erected condition and held in sockets provided therefore on a wall opposite the banister.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,329 was issued to Owen on Jun. 17, 1989 for a portable, foldable seating device having a seat and backrest pivotally connected to one another. A U-shaped support is pivotally attached to the seat and in a stored position the back and seat engage in a generally parallel abutting relationship with the support extending to provide a carrying handle. In the use-position as a seat, the support secures the back in a generally vertical position with respect to the seat. The seat may be used with the backrest upright on a relatively flat surface or may be inverted with the backrest serving as a support leg and the bottom of the cushion upwardly facing to provide a seating surface on an incline or hillside.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,152 was issued to Baron on Jul. 5, 1994 for a cover for a folding lawn chair provided to allow a person to conveniently carry the folding lawn chair as well as to increase comfort when the person is using the lawn chair. The cover may include an enveloped or flapped portion on each end into which each end of the lawn chair can be situated. The cover thus remains in position on the lawn regardless of wind and movement by the user. The cover further includes a strap to accommodate convenient carrying of the lawn chair. The cover may finally include a pillow positioned at the head portion of the cover, a pocket for carrying magazines and oth er accessories, and an insulated receptacle for carrying and holding beverages such as soda and beer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,516,193 was issued to Simpson on May 14, 1996 for a portable stadium seat apparatus and is comprised of an apparatus designed to be used at spectator events where the seating is flat benches without backs. The apparatus consists, in one embodiment, of a streamlined fabric unit which folds readily into a compact flat pad or rolls up to fit a pocket while providing a padded seat and a vertical back support portion. The more detailed embodiment is a multi-compartment shoulder bag having a similar padded seat and a vertical back support portion and a storage compartment which extends from the seat when the unit is in position on the bench, and a storage compartment which is behind the backrest when the unit is in position. The webbing is attached to a hook that secures the seat to the front edge of the bench. The webbing goes across the bench and over the back edge. A compression member is inserted into a pocket in the webbing to form a rear edge for the seat at the back of the bench. Pressure from the compression member wraps the seat snugly over the back of the bench, adjusting it in so doing to any standard bench. The compression member extends vertically to the top of the back of the seat and is attached thereto. Adjustment devices are attached to the webbing to permit the user to adjust the angle of the backrest.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,837 was issued to Reiersen on Nov. 3, 1998 for a portable back and arm support device for use on a bleacher-type bench seat which incorporates a simple back support and two arm supports hingedly connected to the back support. Each arm support may be folded inward so that each arm support is in a parallel relationship with the back support as well as with each other in a tight, transportable arrangement, or each arm support may be folded outward in its operation position so that each arm support is in a somewhat perpendicular relationship with the back support. Each arm support contains a unique fulcruming arrangement which allows the arm supports to constrict, thereby attaching to, or “grasping” onto a bench-type seat by fastening to the mere edges of such bench-type seat.